Bad Day
by littlemissraindrop
Summary: Following a bad day full of painful memories and pointless meetings, Ron returns to 'The Burrows.' At a bad time, he is confronted by Hermione who wants to know where they stand. Can they overcome boundaries and let fate run its course? RHr fluffy oneshot


Disclaimer: Yet again, I am distraught to report that I do not yet own Harry Potter, the storylines or any of the characters. (I knew that I couldn't trust tooth fairies with their tacky wishes!)

This is a one shot set after the war, therefore following the final book. Hermione confronts Ron about what happened between them during the war, so expect lots of fluff along with an irritating Ron/Hermione argument.

By the way, it is supposed to follow the lyrics of Bad Day by Daniel Powter but I found that when I included the lyrics it slowed down the story whilst the argument was meant to be snappy with impact. Therefore, please just imagine it as a song fic.

Thanks and again, happy reading to all!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Pop!

Ron apparated into his own room at 'The Burrows.' Throwing his bag into the corner of the room he grasped at his fiery red tresses and doubled up in anger. He wanted to scream, he wanted to throw something, he felt trapped.

Why did it all seem to happen to him?

He was still in shock from the death of Fred and the series of event that day hadn't helped. The night before he had finally been able to let go of the past, after a serious heart to heart with his father he had been able to turn the pages of his life to the next chapter. The next day was to be the day things changed, he was going to go out and make a difference to his life. He was going to do this by heading to Diagon Alley and finding out what his next steps would be to become an auror.

The next day had arrived, that morning Ron had been confident. He had glanced briefly at a photo of Fred on his bookcase, whispered that he was going to make him proud, then headed for the fireplace ready to use floo powder to get to the careers sector of the Ministry.

The day hadn't started well, by thinking of Fred as he stepped into the fireplace he had found himself in the cellar of his brothers' joke shop, one place he hadn't had the courage to set foot in since the life-changing day that haunted his memories. Pacing his way through the shop, tears rose in Ron's throat as he saw his brother's face smiling at him from the box of every product. He looked so unaware of his fate as he stood grinning at his twin then out at the customer. Ron was literally choking back the floods of tears as his left foot hit the familiar cobblestones that paved Diagon Alley.

Brushing the sleeve of his jacket across his eyes, catching the teardrops before they could escape down his cheeks, Ron headed down towards the Ministry of Magic. All seemed fine until he stepped into the entrance hall of the Ministry, stopping dead in his tracks Ron remained stock still as he stared up at the large sheet of material in front of him.

This was something his father hadn't warned him about. As he stood there his brain registered that what he was looking at was a memorial banner. The words across the top of it read, 'In memory of those who gave their lives to save ours.' Then at the foot was the sentence, 'Gone but never forgotten.' As Ron's eyes scanned from left to right he could see the smiling faces of so many friends and acquaintances; Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Dubledore, Cedric Diggory, Colin Creevey… Fred. The tears threatened to return as he stared wordlessly at them.

Shaking his head, he bowed it slightly as a mark of respect before heading towards the main desk to get directions. Once he had obtained them he made his way to the careers sector on the second floor. He seated himself in the waiting area until a middle-aged woman with a welcoming smile called out his name. Finally, Ron thought, this may be somewhere where he could get away from the thoughts that had been plaguing him all morning.

'Ron Weasley,' the woman called out. As Ron raised his hand and began to stand up, he saw the woman's expression change to one of pity as she registered the red hair and freckles that associated him with the rest of his family. 'I'm so sorry about your brother, your father told me about it. I'm sure it's a terrible loss.' Unable to respond or even string a sentence together, Ron simply nodded and allowed himself to be lead through to a formally decorated office.

'Ron Weasley,' a greying man of about 50 stood and greeted him, shaking his hand and gesturing him to sit down, 'my condolences about your loss.' Again, Ron nodded, 'so what area are you hoping to go into?'

'I was considering becoming an auror,' Ron said.

'I'm sure that would make your family proud, it would give them great happiness and maybe help them to get over their grievances.' Ron's fist clenched under the table, what did this man know about loss? Why did he think it could be so easy to forget what had happened? With great effort, he allowed his hand to relax as he continued to listen to the advisor.

Ten minutes later, Ron found himself impaling the palms of his hands with his nails. Not that he could feel the pain, he was concentrating too much on blocking out the words that came from the wizard's mouth. After every reply Ron had given him about his career choice, the advisor had come out with something about his family's loss and how his choices would benefit them.

In the end he snapped, 'ENOUGH!' Ron stood up so violently that he almost overturned the desk in the process, 'I don't want to stay here and listen to your sympathy. I just want advice; I could probably get more advice from my pet owl than what you've given me!'

Without even waiting for a reply Ron scooped up his bag and turned on the spot, wishing he could just be at home in his own room. Alone.

Ron was lost in his grief as the tears came thick and fast, he tugged more violently at his hair, he crashed his fist on the desk hoping to relieve the anger, he wanted to scream and shout. He hoped that if he yelled loud enough he would wake himself from a nightmare; he'd find himself in a home where all was right, there were seven siblings and nobody had died.

His grief was interrupted by a sharp 'Pop' from the other side of the room.

'We need to talk.'

Without even turning around, Ron knew exactly who was intruding into his personal space. The strict feminine tone could only indicate one individual in Ron's mind.

Hermione Granger.

'In case you haven't noticed, now's not the best time,' he snarled, wiping his eyes and turning viciously to stare at her.

'It's been a month, Ron, there's never a good time to talk,' Hermione replied with an air of defiance.

'Exactly.'

'So I'm choosing now to approach the subject,' she continued boldly.

'What subject?' Ron questioned.

'Us'

'Us?'

'Yes, us,' she clarified.

'What about us, Hermione?' Ron snapped irritably, unable to keep eye contact and therefore turning back to look at the wall furthest from her, wiping his eyes again.

'I kissed you…' Ron paled, '…and I want to know where we stand,' she finished.

Catching his breath, Ron finally managed to reply, 'my brother died in that… that war and you want to focus on our relationship?' Truthfully, he wanted to confront the situation with Hermione, find out whether they had a future together. He wanted to know whether the kiss had actually meant something, it was the one thing that had ever made him truly and sublimely happy. Instead he was trying to avoid the subject, let it go. He didn't deserve to be happy with Hermione.

He had thrust the memory of the kiss to the back of his mind since the war had ended. He had felt that he would have been unfaithful to Fred's memory by thinking of something that had made him happy whilst his brother had lost his life. It felt unfair to focus on his happiness at the time and had gradually come to forget what it was to be happy.

'Yes, because it is one of the few good things I can hold onto,' Hermione urged, 'I have virtually lost my parents because the charm can't be reversed, I have lost friends in the war and I have nightmares about being tortured.'

Ron shivered as her screams broke through his thoughts, the screaming and pleading which would never leave him.

'I feel that I have to hold on to my relationship with you, Harry and Ginny; so I would like to know what kind of relationship I actually have with you. Is that explanation enough for you?' she probed.

Ron remained silent.

'Look at me, Ron.'

He continued to stare at the wall ahead of him. He could feel Hermione's eyes watching him, waiting for him to face her and set her straight. Again, the tears began to roll down his cheeks. This time he did nothing about it; he wanted to cry, to wash away all feelings for Hermione so that he could feel that he was remaining faithful to Fred.

'FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, RON, LOOK AT ME!' Hermione screamed.

Ron took this as a cue to whirl round and look Hermione directly in the eye, 'IT MEANT NOTHING! I feel nothing for you beyond friendship!' he yelled. His heart ripped in two as the words escaped his mouth, he was losing the one thing in his life that made him happy.

'I know that's a lie!' Hermione replied in shock, 'you kissed me back, I know you did!'

'We were in the middle of a bloody war! Either of us could have died, of course I bloody kissed you back! I wasn't going to leave our friendship ruined, was I?'

'Is that it? You kissed me back to save our friendship?' Tears were now forming in Hermione's eyes as she took in his words.

'Yeah! Does that answer your question?'

'So you seriously feel nothing for me?'

'No…thin…g' Ron stretched the word into several syllables as he watched the tears trickling down her face. He hated to watch, he hated to see her in pain. It was worse knowing that he was the one who was causing her that much pain.

'How could you break it to me like that, Ron?' Hermione's voice had become a whisper

'I told you that it wasn't the best time,' he persisted to spit venomously at her. Meanwhile, he was fighting all of the muscles in his arm as he attempted to stop himself from reaching up and wiping away her tears.

'There was no need to take your bad day out on me, you could have just calmed down and explained to me then I could have gone!' Hermione's voice became a yell again to rival his increasing volume.

'Well EXCUSE ME for grieving over my dead brother at a bad time!'

'_This _anger has nothing to do with Fred and you know it! You hate that you're having to deny your own feelings and it's driving you mad!'

'This is not about me! I'm not denying my feelings!' Ron stepped forward and snarled bitterly at her.

'Prove it! Tell me that you're being serious. Tell me you only see me as a friend…' she stepped forward swiftly.

'…go on,' she continued, 'tell me that everything we've been through means nothing. Tell me that your protectiveness wasn't jealously, tell me that all of the shared glances were just friendly, tell me that there was no real tension between us…'

She strode forward again and whispered, 'tell me that the fights were just your average arguments, tell me you felt nothing when I kissed you, tell me there was no attraction…'

She took one final step forward so that they were now virtually nose-to-nose. Again, Ron's breath caught in his chest, this time at the thought of being in such close proximity to her, 'Tell me you don't love me,' she breathed.

For a moment they just stood there, Ron was standing rigidly in shock whilst Hermione stared up at him with determination and expectation flashing in her probing brown eyes. When had she become so bold? Ron asked himself, had it been since the war? Had it put things into perspective for her the way it had with him? 'Hermione,' he whispered finally, 'I… I can't do this.'

With this few words he began to step back, wanting to get away from her. He turned away not wanting to see the pain that he was causing her. He knew what he really wanted to say, the words were bubbling up inside him.

No, he wasn't being serious, she wasn't just a friend; what they'd been through meant _everything _to him, the glances had been full of longing, there had been sexual tension for as long as he could remember, the fights had always shown sparks, he had felt care, love and belonging in her kiss, there was attraction that Ron had never experienced before.

Finally, yes, he loved her; he loved her so much that he felt that his heart would burst. Every time she left him he was full of dread over whether he would ever see her again. He couldn't imagine the rest of his life without her. All these things he need to say to her but here he was, throwing his future away.

Letting her go.

He was wrenched from his thoughts by a sudden pressure on his wrist. As he had turned away, Hermione had reached out and grasped his wrist firmly with her right hand. Pulling him back with such force, Ron found his lips colliding with hers. For a moment Ron just stood there, he was too full of shock to respond but when he came to his senses he kissed back momentarily before realising what he was doing.

Pulling away reluctantly, he removed his wrist from Hermione's grip. Hermione seemed to look at him with a heartbroken expression, he wanted to kiss her and tell her that he loved her but at the same time he felt duty bound to his family. He had to let this feeling go or else they would both end up getting hurt.

Looking down at her, Ron tried again to maintain a gruff and commanding presence, 'stay away from me,' he managed to say as his heart fought with his mind, 'just stay away, Hermione,' he repeated.

They stood there.

'Just…' he gulped, 'stay…' he tried to finish the sentence, 'stay…' he began to lose the strength in his voice, 'stay,' he whispered. His heart won over and he reached out his hand, brushing away a tendril of hair that fell across Hermione's tear stained face. He then let the palm of that hand lay itself on her flushed cheek.

Without a chance to think or change his mind, Ron moved his hand from her cheek to the nape of her neck. Pulling her forward he leaned in, allowing their lips to collide once again. This time he kissed back immediately, passionately and fervently. He wrapped his arm around her waist hastily not wanting to let her go, she returned the gesture by wrapping both arms around his neck, deepening the kiss in the process. He took one… two… three steps forwards, forcing Hermione to step back each time until she was pinned firmly against the wall behind her.

Ron had finally realised that he needed to sort out his priorities. If the war had taught him anything it was that you never know how long you've got so you shouldn't waste time worrying about whether something is right or wrong. He was taking a chance; he was stepping out into the unknown. He was taking a chance on Hermione and he was taking a chance on love.

For now, that made him complete. Who knew what the future had in store for him? There was one thing Ron knew, he wasn't going to miss a second of it!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Thanks for reading, please review!

A note to my readers, 'Playing Cupid' is on hold for the moment. As it was only supposed to be a one shot I still need to decide how I'm going to approach the next few chapters so please bear with me.

Thanks again,

Littlemissraindrop


End file.
